Posture And Your Corsets

( Originally Published 1924 )

Much of graceful posture depends on correct corseting. The modern girl's waist-line is normal, and she has, therefore, much more of a chance of remaining healthy and of being the mother of well, strong children.

Corset manufacturers said a great deal about deterioration and spreading of the feminine figures, when the tight corset was being discarded; then they began to use every artistry to adapt corsets to the new figures. The modern girl is in reality setting up a new standard of natural beauty.

From the time of Queen Elizabeth all women but peasants wore corsets, and those corsets were so long and so tight that college professors and clergymen even began to preach against the practise. Today is a far cry from the day when the putting on of a corset reduced the wearer to an eighteen-inch waist. Every smart woman now, maid of sixteen or grandmother of sixty, possesses a straight figure, accompanied by that lithesomeness and grace of movement that, up until a few years ago, were the exclusive attribute of the girl who wore " a corset waist." The attaining of this attribute of slenderness may mean, along with the new idea in corseting, consistent exercise and a self-denial diet. No longer does any woman need to encase herself in a stiffly-boned corselet; but she selects, or lets the expert select for her, one in which her flesh rests—a combination of brocade or batiste, and elastic web, "not woven, but knitted."

Many of the newer corsets have no lacings, and are very low, depending on a carefully fitted brassière to smooth out the rolls of flesh on the shoulders and give the flat-bust effect. These brassières usually fasten in the back or under the arm. They are made very long with side rubber gussets below the waist-line, fitting down over the top of the very low corset, and held in place by hooks on tape, one of which fastens to a front clasp, the other to a loop at the back of the corset.

A clever combination is the corset and brassière in one garment. This gives support, and yet has the effect of an uncorseted figure. Under sports or evening clothes, the corselet is effective for the slender figure. The fastidious woman has a corset for each occasion—different in weight and material, according to the purpose of the costume.

It is far better for a woman to deny herself bon-bons and put herself in the hands of a reputable corsetière, for the wrong corset will mar the whole effect of the costume. There are no figures too difficult to the one who designs or fits corsets of a high grade.